KSR Today: In the Middle of a Kentucky Losing Streak

The January (Kentucky) Blues have arrived. The SEC basketball season is unforgiving. Kentucky didn’t bring its best stuff to Nashville. Vanderbilt turned that into a 74-69 win. It was Vandy’s second Top 10 win in a week and the second straight loss for Kentucky.

Kentucky tied its season-high with 17 turnovers that turned into 14 points for Vandy. The Commodores sank 12 threes to the Cats’ nine. Just like every other loss this season, Kentucky failed to score 70 points.

The Wildcats trailed by 14 at the half, then mounted an impressive comeback to take a 7-point lead. Otega Oweh had 21 points and 12 rebounds, but the Cats couldn’t land the finishing move. His layup with three minutes remaining gave Kentucky a one-point lead, and they never scored again.

It’s now been 12 days since Big Blue Nation has seen Kentucky win a basketball game. The wait could get worse. Kentucky travels to Knoxville on Tuesday to play a Tennessee team that went toe-to-toe for 40 minutes with top-ranked Auburn last night. That’s not the only bad news.

Andrew Carr Might Be Out for a While

Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr were both pretty banged up. The mid-week bye was supposed to give each an opportunity to get some much-needed rest. It didn’t work out well for either.

Butler had six points and six turnovers before fouling out, while Carr didn’t play at all. It doesn’t sound like he’s going to be playing anytime soon either.

“Injuries are hard,” Mark Pope said Saturday. “Like, these calls are really hard. And so what we’re hoping is that we can get to a space sometime in the next few weeks, next few days, somewhere where we have enough confidence that — you know, he hasn’t practiced in a couple of weeks, and every game is like, he just gets beat up so bad, it’s back to square one, where it’s hard for him to walk essentially, and so we’re hoping that with more time, we can get him to some sustainable place where we can endure a practice and endure a game and not be back to zero but we’ll see if that actually happens.”

Ansley Almonor performed well in Carr’s absence. He was the second-leading scorer with 12 points on 4-5 shooting from three-point land. Even so, Carr was at his best in Kentucky’s biggest wins of the season. It’s hard to imagine winning big games without him.

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At Least Vandy Owes Kentucky a Bunch of Money

This group of Vandy undergrads has seen things few others have seen before. They beat Bama in football. They knocked off a Top 10 Tennessee team, then beat a Top 10 Kentucky team a week later. Some might say those memories are priceless. That’s not entirely true. Vanderbilt must pay a $500,000 fine to Kentucky for storming the court, their third offense under the new rules where the beneficiary is the losing team.

More Coverage from the Kentucky Loss to Vanderbilt

What’s Up with the Slow Starts? Pope Singles Out 3 Things
The 5 Most Frustrating Things from the Loss
“We got punked.” Ugly first half cost the Cats.
Trent Noah made an impact in his SEC Debut
Otega Oweh’s Second Half Gave Kentucky a Chance
The Turnovers are Super Disappointing
WATCH: Oweh, Noah talk to reporters following the loss
BOX SCORE: Offense Lets Kentucky Down in Nashville
RECAP: Comeback Attempt Falls Short

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Kentucky WBB Looks to Bounce Back at Home

This week of Kentucky basketball is bookended with home games against the Hogs. Before Cal comes back to Lexington with a bunch of SEC losses on his resume, Kenny Brooks is looking to hogtie the Razorbacks at Historic Memorial Coliseum.

Today’s game comes off the first SEC loss for the Kentucky women’s basketball team. The Cats let a fourth quarter lead slip away at Texas A&M. Today should be an ideal opportunity to bounce back. Arkansas is 8-13 with one win in SEC play. We’ll see how they respond at noon on the SEC Network.

College Basketball on TV

Maryland at Indiana, Noon, CBS
Nebraska at No. 18 Wisconsin, 1:00, BTN
UAB at No. 24 Memphis, 1:00, ESPN2
Northwestern at No. 17 Illinois, 3:00, BTN
Oklahoma State at Texas Tech, 3:00, ESPN+
Navy at Army, 3:30, CBSSN

Conference Championship Sunday

When the day ends, we know who will be playing in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. Will a rookie shock the world? Can the Bills finally get over the hump with Josh Allen, or will Patrick Mahomes continue his reign over the National Football League? My gut tells me the chalk will hold, but the other part of my gut is swirling with uncertainty. Hopefully, that means we get a pair of quality football games.

Washington (+6.5) at Philadelphia, 3:00, FOX
Buffalo (+1.5) at Kansas City, 6:30, CBS

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